avonside1563 Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 The Foxfield Railway Autumn Gala will be taking place on the 26th and 27th of September 2015.This year will see road steam appearing alongside the railway and feature traction engines, steam rollers and steam lorries, some of which will be used in cameo scenes at Foxfield Colliery opening up new photo opportunities.On the railway side it will feature 5 locomotives from the home fleet and include demonstration freight trains and an intensive passenger service using the standard Mk1 rake and the Knotty Heritage coaches.As usual there will be real ales in the station bar at Caverswall Road, hot and cold food in the buffet and light refreshments at the Colliery. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon A Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Any visiting locos? Is the colliery platform open yet? G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
avonside1563 Posted September 20, 2015 Author Share Posted September 20, 2015 No visiting locos but in the morning there will be a lifting demo at Caverswall Road with dubs lifting a load onto a road trailer that a traction engine will take to the colliery where dubs will be waiting to lift it off. Then the process will be reversed in the afternoon with the load returning to Caverswall Road and being unloaded. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
avonside1563 Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 The confirmed loco roster is: 0-6-0WT Bellerophon, 0-4-0ST Beyer Peacock 1827, 0-4-0ST Bagnall 2842, 0-6-0ST Whiston, 0-4-0CT Dubs, 0-6-0DM Wolstanton No3. Bellerophon and the Beyer Peacock will be the locos hauling the Knotty Heritage Train and the others (with the exception of Dubs) will feature on the Mk1 service set. All locos will be seen working coal trains on Foxfield Bank. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Hoping to attend on the sunday Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 I went on Saturday, and it was rather good. The highlights were seeing the Dubs crane tank in operation, and getting to travel in the restored NSR coaches. The colliery platform isn't open yet, so to get there you can walk (supervised) over the line at Dilhome Park, and then through some muddy fields for about half a mile (climbing over a barbed wire fence in the process). Fine for me, but some if the older and/or less able visitors were struggling a bit. There was a bus laid on as an alternative from Blythe Bridge. As a bonus, I spotted this in the museum. I spent 5+ years commuting between Grantham and Nottingham, and must have been past this box thousands have times before it was abolished a couple of years back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Bit disappointed that the canteen were having problems on the sunday but it was a great day otherwise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliebanger Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 The colliery platform isn't open yet, so to get there you can walk (supervised) over the line at Dilhome Park, and then through some muddy fields for about half a mile (climbing over a barbed wire fence in the process). Fine for me, but some if the older and/or less able visitors were struggling a bit. There was a bus laid on as an alternative from Blythe Bridge. Agreed, that was was possibly a difficult walk for some, but the main purpose of that was to reach the advantageous views of the locos powering up the bank. To visit the colliery site there were alternatives already in place. The bus service you mention was pretty well used, and there is a car park at the colliery, just a couple of hundred yards from where you took your picture of Dubs. There was a small cafe serving hot and cold drinks, toasted sandwiches and cakes. And by the Pit Head, one of the cleanest and most oder-free toilet blocks I've come across on any preserved railway. I spent two days at the Gala, mainly at the colliery site, and had a wonderful time. Everyone I met was friendly and welcoming, and they even arranged for brilliant weather for the entire event. Lol. There was plenty of action to maintain attention, shunting, crane lifts, all 5 steam engines and the DM shunter taking turns either singly or in multiples to drag a variety of wagon types and numbers up the spectacular Foxfield Bank. At 1 in 19 this really demonstrates rail-bourne locomotive power. In fact, operations were a good deal busier than that on many model railway exhibition layouts. I know there are plans to upgrade the facilities at the colliery but when you take into account the variety and ages of the locomotives operated, the 'Knotty' carriages, the traction engines and other steam driven vehicles, and yes,even the Morris Dancing troup, I believe the Gala represented fantastic value for money. This was my first visit, but it will certainly not be my last. Thank you to everyone involved. Kind regards Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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